Just like any century was the 19thcentury also a turbulent political time. It was the time of the citizens and steam engines. But there was a big difference between this period and the periods before in history. In the 18th century there were many great thinkers stood up. They had criticized the old Coalition form. This time is also called the enlightenment. Thanks to the lighting there were many new ideas for other reign. Most people wanted a democracy. This means that the people governs. They do this by representatives that the country should govern. These representatives of the people never get the complete power. The full power is always with the people.

Different political forces within the Democratic Coalition form arose. These currents we have today still. For example, the VVD Liberal, the SP is Socialist and the SPG is confessionalistisch. A confessionalistische party wants to govern according to his own religion. This was of course used to be more common than today. The VVD, the SPG and the SP existed in the19th century of course yet. Indeed, there were no political parties in the 19th century. When were there only currents formed.

The 18th century philosopher John Locke is seen as the founder for liberalism. He found that nothing should go above the freedom of the individual. That also means that there should be as little as possible rules. Who rules hinder the individual in his freedom. But the Socialists found actually that there are rules. The father of socialism is the philosopher Karl Marx. He saw that factory owners and workers abused their freedom Spaniards. The plant employees worked really long days under bad conditions and got very little money.

But there were still more currents that influence on the politics of the 19th century. Nationalism is one of them. Also this arose as a result of the enlightenment in the 18th century. Because they felt that the people had to get more rights went more and more attention to the people. The people had to get a face and a story. First one always looked only to the leaders. Those were important. Now the people important. There had to be something where they could be proud of. They all had the same history, language and culture. This characterized the people. All the people characterized was glorified. In Germany for example, folk tales were collected by the Brothers Grimm. The Brothers Grimm wrote this on because it was an important part of the German culture. And this supported the nationalist feeling.

At the end of the 19th century many men were allowed to vote. They had to over 23 years and had to have a certain amount of tax paid. However, women could not vote. From dissatisfaction with this situation arose the first feminist wave. Feminism is fighting for equal rights for men and women.